Saturday, July 11, 2009

Wild Success

My 29th birthday party was a wild success. Wonderful friends and family gathered on our farm to celebrate this special day with me. These kind of parties are always a lot of work, but it is always worth it.The celebration started off last night (my actual birthday). Joe took me out to see "Angels and Demons". I recently reread the book, so it was fun to compare the book to the movie. By the time we got out, and picked up the spit in downtown Dallas, it was 10pm. Good thing some restaurants have bars, so they stay open later. TGI Fridays' baby back ribs and salmon are the bomb!

Liz and Earl watched the kids, so we went to pick them up, and got chatting. Before we knew it, it was 1am. Time to hit the sack there!

The celebration continued this morning, with a lovely breakfast in bed. Sterling made a wonderful drawing, and everyone sang happy birthday in English and Dutch. Once we got back home, there was a lot of work to be done before the party could get started.

Number 1 priority: kill the goat, and get it on the spit. One of the missionaries from our ward was super excited to slit the goat's throat, so they came over for a little while to prepare it. While Joe and 1 missionary were taking care of that, me and the other missionary were taking care of the lawn. I was on the riding mower, and since it had been a few weeks since we moved, there were a lot of grass clippings all over. The missionary was nice enough to run this humongous industrial vacuum over the lawn, and collect all the clippings.

Once the lawn was done and the goat was roasting on the spit, things settled down for a bit. It was nice to get a nap in, before the crowds started to arrive. It was so great to have all my friends and family here, to celebrate with me. Everyone brought all kinds of yummy food, and snacks.Of course the pool was the main attraction, and with so many adults, we got the volleyball net out. We had a good game going, with 4 on 4. Grandma even got in on the action!For some reason, when a lot of people get together, someone always ends up swimming in the lake. This time it was Joe, Brooks, Tucker, and Bailey. They ran off the dock as fast as possible, and still landed in the middle of the algae/weeds/muck. I think that if we wouldn't have a pool, we would keep that lake cleared of algae, so it would be better for swimming. But, hey, like I said before, who wants to swim in a mucky lake, when you have a sparkly pool?The goat was delicious! I think it was even better on the spit, than how we cooked the last one in the oven. the Morphises brought all the fixings for gyro sandwiches, which just complemented the goat so well. Then, there were yummy salads, and of course lots of chocolate dessert. Liz knows what I like!As it was getting dark, we had to pry the kids out of the pool and into cars. It was sad to see everyone leave again, but at the same time, I realized what a great success this party was. Thanks Joe! (and everyone else who contributed)Ginger, Baily, Winter, and Riley Gangstas of the Texas back country